Wow, I can’t believe it took me this long to play this game as a lifelong Mario fan.

The art style and pastel colour palette in this game is so beautiful, it’s easily the strongest out of any Mario game. There are some super cool levels, but overall, I definitely felt like they dragged on a bit at times. The gameplay switch-up from the regular 2D Mario gameplay was certainly interesting and added a new dynamic, but it made some gameplay moments super frustrating. Taking damage so easily and having the game sending you flying off the map and Baby Mario off-screen in another direction, happened too many times to count. But overall I really enjoyed it and the final boss was an all time favourite for me.

A very solid Mario game, and It’s awesome to see the newer games like Super Mario Bros. Wonder take a page from this game in terms of visual identity.

The only thing holding me back from giving this game a higher rating is due to this being in early access, so some features are obviously missing. But with that being said though, this is a fantastic follow up to Hades and the framework is definitely there.

As per usual, Supergiant has crushed both the character and world design. The soundtrack is stellar and even more incorporated into the game with the second boss and the combat is as buttery smooth as ever. Having not only one but two paths was also a welcome surprise and I absolutely love the environments they incorporated.

I am curious to see how the story will play out though because as is, It feels like it’s about 75% of the way there but sort of ends abruptly once clearing for the first time. So besides that and a few balancing issues, I know we’re in good hands. Overall, I’m excited to see how this game fully evolves as we get closer to a final build!

Stellar Blade is a game that knows exactly what it wants to be, even if it isn't the greatest on all fronts. While the combat and soundtrack are clear standouts, the story leaves a bit to be desired. Apart from these obvious points, I think there's more reason to speak positively about the game as a whole than there is to linger on the negatives.

Let's start with the great things about SB. The combat is exceptional. C'mon, there's a parry; of course it's a 10/10. You have this option to use burst and beta abilities while fighting, and while those abilities are fun and flashy, the game allows you to take a more “pure” approach. If you want, you can zero in on using parries to beat your opponent to the point of using a Retribution attack. Most people will be familiar with a critical attack after breaking posture, but there's something so satisfying about draining such long posture bars in Stellar Blade. Each strike of your sword or spark of your abilities is a beautiful light show as well. It's very much a rhythm game that will leave you in its dust if you can't match it in time. I found myself getting 1 or 2 shot by plenty of enemies when I missed an important parry or dodge.

Overall, the game's visual aesthetic isn't something I'm mad about. Some cyberpunk-style designs feel a bit uninspired, but the world is highly detailed and wonderful to look at. It feels like one of those titles that was meant to be on the PS5. I really loved when the camera work would turn super dynamic in the cinematics. I think all the boss fight executions were brilliant. I also loved alot of the Naytiba designs. They take inspiration from many forms of life and almost always provide some sort of nightmare fuel, which I love. One small bit about them that I adored was the flourishes on the boss type Naytibas. It gives a stylized look to them and gives them a sense of grace that contrasts their violent existence. I think the MAIN character design in general is a standout in this game. Many of those main characters are so much fun to look at. There are always standouts in games that have mixes of organic and mechanical. The freedom that allows is something I'm sure character designers love.

Shoutout to the costume designers for EVE. Every time I thought they were at their limit, I got a new one and GYATTTTTT. I'm not too high and mighty to acknowledge the fan service of this game. You caught me. I enjoyed it. Pretty sure the devs made her ass bigger when she's wearing certain outfits too. Yoko Taro would be proud and disgusted, I'm sure.

Now, the music. Holy shit, these are some FF16 type tracks. I won't name some bosses, but Belial and Karakuri were just exceptional standouts to me. Don't even get me started on Democrawler. Breathtakingly incredible. We get such a beautiful blend of instruments and musical mediums throughout this whole game. It's hard to focus during some fights, and I think the camp's theme will be burned into my eardrums for awhile. Overall, I'm so impressed with soundtracks like this. I can't see anything topping these tracks this year, but I'd love to hear someone try.

Shoutout to the final boss theme being a rendition of the main theme. We LOVE that shit around here.

The story and characters just fell a bit flat to me. I didn't feel much chemistry between EVE and her companions. Some characters seemed like they knew they were NPCs and took that assignment seriously. I felt like many emotions weren't there when they needed to be. I wanted to like the story more, but I saw the ending coming from a mile away. The only reason it isn't more of a knock for me, personally, is because there were a few nice twists in the lore that I enjoyed. It isn't horrible, and maybe I'm judging it too harshly, but it was by no means cinema.

Overall, I think this game is very much worth playing, even if for the combat alone. There are plenty of side quests and the platinum trophy is there for the taking. Another wonderful example of a game I saw the first teaser for ages ago, hyped up, and then happily received it when it finally released. That's a breath of fresh air anytime it happens.

By the way, are the incels still mad at this game? They said it got censored?? I can't imagine seeing the fan service of this game and thinking it isn't “good enough.” Imagine using your limited time on this beautiful Earth like that when you could literally load up Stellar Blade, play as a beautiful android woman, and SAVE Earth instead.

for early access this game is just as fucking good as the first one, i cannot wait until it is complete

the number of times i made it all the way to the end just to die had me contemplating sewerside

there truly is no escape

While I don't think this is my favorite Metroidvania I've played so far, I think it's best in its class.

Playing Hollow Knight after playing my first few Metroidvanias, rather than before, set my expectations in a strange place for the game. I've heard so much talk about it, and witnessed even more excitement for the ever-illusive Silksong. I went into it expecting a masterpiece of not only the genre, but of everything that constitutes a great game.

I liked the story, even if it seemed a bit dense at times with all the bugs whispering gibberish into my ear. I'm the guy destined to become the new John Hollow. I'm pretty sure that's obvious, so I'm not marking this as a spoiler. Okay, cool. I was led astray so many times by NPCs who, it seems, you talk to in the first 10 minutes of the game and then have to revisit in the 90th percentile??? Obviously a bit of an exaggeration, but the layering of side quests and their progression is definitely the most complicated out of most games I've played. I don't think that's a bad thing either. I think it's done well enough and more of a reason to be more present when playing the game if you care about the story and its characters a lot.

I think it's easy to sometimes get swept up in the monotony of running back and forth throughout MVs. I touched on this in my Blasphemous reviews; it's incredible how there's a point around 40% percent through these games where you're slow, and the map is big. You're aware of countless areas that are unexplored, but you're lacking the abilities to get to them. This was me more than ever on HK. I loved exploring the map, but I think it's incredibly punishing. I can't imagine someone new to MVs having fun platforming on this game in the beginning. Granted, I'm not the greatest platformer in the world, but I'm certainly not the worst. See below.

I DID NOT FINISH PATH OF PAIN. FUCK THAT. FUCK THE DEVS. SICKOS.

The art direction is extremely cohesive. I didn't feel like anything in the game was out of place. From the sprawling backgrounds, to the enemy design, and the animations, I loved the way this game looked. The environments transitioned color pallets beautifully. I adore when a game isn't afraid to go all out with the colors while still keeping with their aesthetic. The orange of the infection is burned into my brain like one of the blobs was the sun and stared at it too long. Oh, and who knew so many amazing designs could be based around bugs? Looking back, it sounds so obvious because they're like the naturally gifted knights of the animal kingdom. They're quite literally born with armor over their bodies. If any of the bugs in HK were human-sized, I think we'd be doomed.

Combat is great and so are the bosses. I think the weapon upgrade system is balanced, as it incentivizes exploration and challenges the player to fight more bosses. Magic seems OP as hell, as usual. Magic users have tiptoed the line of baby gaming for far too long. It's time we banned all uses of magic from games. But seriously, the balancing of spirit when it comes to magic and healing is well done. Healing? What's that? Seems like they only put it in the game to use outside of combat. You definitely don't want to use it in a boss fight. I think the boss is coded to go ape mode when you start channeling spirit. Once you figure that out, I think you enjoy the combat even more. It reminds me of Sekiro in a way because you have to dance with the boss at a certain rhythm. While there is no parry (kinda) you still have your jumps and dashes to guide you across the dance floor.

The music hit all the notes. It was somber, energizing and grand. I sometimes felt like I was walking the pews at a funeral or receiving a medal for being the people's champion. I especially loved the Mantis Lords track. Inject that shit into my veins. It's incredible to me how so many studios can create such distinctive sounds for their games. Video game soundtracks are a genre of art that is probably the most ignored by the public. Anyway, listen to and appreciate more OSTs. If you're reading this on a video game review site, I'm sure I don't have to tell you that.

Overall, I loved Hollow Knight. Like with any title, there are small annoyances, but they pale in comparison to the radiance displayed during the high points of this game. I fully understand why Silksong is longed for. I fully understand why HK holds a special place in the hearts of many, as it now does mine. As always, I'm thankful to exist during a time when I can experience games like this. There's so much beauty in playing a game you always knew about but never gave a chance.

This is a solid game with a lack of depth. With time if this studio continues to make triple A games they will eventually make something that carries all the positives from this game and amplifies it.

Its combat is the strongest part of the game and found me heavily reminiscent of sekiro, all styles of parry & dodging brings flair to the combat which i thoroughly enjoyed, purple & blue dodges being my favourite.

With that being said, i was hoping that this game would have a great story to carry on its back but it does fall short in that area which is unfortunate but its not to say that its at least a average story that you can enjoy with the exciting combat set pieces. Having the youngest of the party be the one with the most personality shows the lack of depth in both EVE and Adam when big story beats and development moments are happening.

And can't deny what a great soundtrack it is that came with this game with both rebirth & this year ill be surprised if i don't see square enix not win for once. All boss themes, zone themes & specifically the resting area songs are complement the game and moments that are happening in the game.

The one big takeaway for me on this game is its evidence that giving the ability to unlock multiple costumes or search for new ones that you may have not found gives an idea into what life would be like if companies took this and put it into games where people have been begging for different appearances on characters without having some sort of paywall. I found myself having far too much enjoyment in finding a new costume and wearing it until finding the next one on my journey.

I think this is one of those games that has the ability to take its foundation and apply it to later titles that they may work on and improve towards making a game that reaches the standard of others in this category, this was a fresh approach and something different especially it being a Korean studio, the future seems bright for them.

It's been a month since I beat Rise of the Ronin. I really wanted to like this game more but unfortunately after the first 10 hours of gameplay, it simply fell off. At first I was loving the combat, the open world aspects, Sakamoto Ryoma and the fact that it is set during the Bakumatsu but at some point I found myself running through the main story just to beat it.

I was very excited for the combat since you'd only fight Humanoid enemies, which are typically the best encounters in FromSoftware titles and Soulslikes in my opinion. There's a decent amount of variety with the weapons and each weapon-type has access to 3 slots of "stances" that you can customize, and will act as a rock-paper-scissor system against enemies. Meaning you get different playstyles and they'll either be effective or not effective depending on who you fight. Counterspark/Parrying is an alright mechanic but it isn't as clean as Sekiro, Stellar Blade or even Lies of P, it's kind of weird how it can also serve as an attack except it's just bad when it is used like that.

When you're only fighting Humanoid enemies and bosses, if you're not introducing new and interesting movesets/patterns that are hard to deal with but instead just throw in another enemy, it removes all the fun from actually struggling and learning how to read your opponent. There is maybe one fight that actually skill checks you and it is in early game, after that all the fights that are annoying are the gank fights. I only used the support characters to help me clear the levels but I removed them as soon as I got to the boss encounters. Anyhow this game made me learn to actually appreciate beast/monster-type enemies, you know the big ones that really mess with your camera LOL. The reason why is because when you finally get to those Humanoid bosses, it feels good to fight them since all you've been fighting prior are those big monsters where you have no vision because they take up the whole screen and half of the fight is versus your camera. This is not the case here, like I said earlier you just fight humans who doesn't necessarily get stronger, you just fight an extra person or two and that doesn't make it more fun. I wanted clean one versus one swordfight battles where I have to figure out how to parry their onslaught attacks and have them beat my ass over and over again until I finally pick up on it, and each encounter should've been unique. I don't really have a favorite fight because it all just felt the same.

At this point I don't recall much from the story but the setting is cool and there were a few characters I enjoyed like Sakamoto Ryoma, Kaishu Katsu and Kogoro Katsura. It would've been nice if the MC actually talked more because they do talk BUT most of the time, they're just silent so it makes you feel disconnected.

When I first stepped into Yokohama, I was really excited to explore everything because the map was huge and there was a lot to do. I actually thought that the entire game would take place here but then I learned that there were more maps just as big and that's when I gave up on exploring and only pushed the story. It makes sense that it isn't the only area because of Kyoto and Edo but still, I wasn't willing to go through the Ubisoft loop multiple times.

Rise of the Ronin is a decent experience, however I wouldn't recommend grabbing it for full price. For the most part it has unimpressive graphics especially for a PS5 exclusive title with the frame rate dropping constantly on Performance Mode however I heard there was a patch that helped but I can't confirm because I beat the game before that went live. It does somewhat scratch that Sekiro itch but it is definitely not up there, hell I don't even think this game is that much better than Team Ninja's previous game Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty.

Had a lot of fun with Stellar Blade and I'm currently going through NG+ for the plat. The game has very clear strengths as well as weaknesses. Overall though I'm pretty surprised by how well made it is.

It goes without saying that the most fun part about Stellar Blade is its combat and while it falls short to something like Sekiro, it is still damn good. You get sick ass moves with Combo Attacks, Beta and Burst skills that will not only make you look cool but also do hella damage. Some of these can even cancel out annoying moves or strings, really useful against bosses. The defensive options like Perfect Parrying and Dodging feel very nice too even though I suck at dodging the yellow attacks. You also get access to follow-up attacks when you land these, making it even more satisfying. Also having a dash that basically teleports you to the enemy is convenient if you wanna close the gap and be aggressive.

The Naytiba's have great looking designs and there's a hefty amount of them so you never really get bored fighting these enemies. Boss fights are solid and I'm glad they were because I got hooked on the demo, fighting the Boss Challenge over and over again. Unfortunately didn't get a no damage run but the Stalker fight gave me hope for what's to come and majority of the bosses in the full game actually did deliver.

Paired with an exceptional soundtrack that could very well be the best one this year, it is a fire recipe they have here. Not a single bad track in the entire game and the list has a ton of range too, keeping it refreshing. It also made exploring so much more enjoyable especially since I was doing all the side content.

Oh yeah, the graphics are good.

And I almost forgot to mention but there wasn't enough sword surfing.. sad!

Now this is where it gets bad because while I really liked doing the side stuff, there are so many things that just drag down the experience. First of all, the fast travel and map. Why is it so annoying to get from Point A to Point B? There's just too many steps and when you have to backtrack constantly like it's a metroidvania or something but then you're also met with multiple loading screens, it's just terrible. You can't fast travel to every camp nor can you open the map and look at a different location, not to mention you only have an actual map for only half of the locations. Another thing I noticed when exploring is that there are lots of spots where it looks like you can make a jump or a climb but you literally can not. Is it designed this way to piss off the player? I don't know.

I haven't gotten to the story and characters yet but simply put, it is bland. The main trio of EVE, Adam and Lily have no synergy at all. I simply didn't care for any of them, or the rest of the cast but I guess at least Lily has some personality. EVE just has cool outfits and a ponytail so long it reaches her heel, so swag!

Despite all of that, majority of my time spent with Stellar Blade was fun and that's what matters the most in my humble opinion. Looking forward to the DLC with the Boss Rush mode so I can attempt some no damage runs. Anyways I'm giving it a 7.5/10.